Why has my usage doubled since my smart meter was installed?

It is electric.  And yes to the water. No to a thermostat,don’t do that.  It is properly mild here, as Storm Bram has just passed through so no need to have the heating turned up. Strangely used less yesterday (checked it at the end of the day - £5.50 for the day) - again, I’ve not done anything different or changed anything since the smart meter was installed on April 1st.  I’m using exactly the same things. 

I’m not keen on messing with the breakers (worried in case I hurt myself - yes,sounds silly but you just don’t know). Only if a fuse has tripped have I ever done that and something has gone off unexpectedly. Tariffs are correct checking the last letter I was sent when the October price cap took effect.

Have included what it is currently on my IHD to help.

​@mrsparkles5481 I live in Glasgow, so not as far north as you, but I remember in late November, when you first messaged on this thread, it was absolutely freezing here, about -5 overnight. Assuming it may have been colder further north - it is looking like your electric heating may be the culprit. Here’s a screenshot of my gas usage for November; I know you don’t have gas, but my heating is gas and you can see how my usage rose a lot during the cold snap:

One thing you could do is contact Home Energy Scotland. They’re an organisation that offer free and impartial advice on energy saving. If you contact them, they’ll hopefully be able to help you with the best ways to use your appliances, and will also let you know of any grants you might be eligible for.

What sort of heating system do you have?

Thanks. However, that screen doesn’t tell us very much at all; it’s only showing what you have spent and used since midnight, and the fact that there’s more than usual power being drawn at the moment (the amber light).

If you want to get to grips with your consumption, touch the Now button. This will tell you just how much power is being drawn at the moment. This is a snapshot figure, updated every ten seconds; this means you have to wait a moment after switching the kettle on to see just how much extra it’s drawing. If you get used to looking at power (in W or kW) and energy (in kWh) rather than pounds, you’ll soon learn to read the signs - like my kettle boosting the power draw from 19 W to 3070 W (= 3.07 kW).  

You could be right on the meter - last three top ups have not gone through automatically and ended up after a few attempts each time to input them manually on the meter ,including tonight!  I’ll raise it with the Support Team.

I got smart meter installed in May 25, since then usage seems too high and now in winter months Dec to Jan usage is 8 times it was the same period in previous years.!!! Something must be wrong but I’m getting nowhere when I call OVO. Silly comments like it’s a smart meter it must be right and it will go up compared to summer as heating on. No one will listen to me that this is in comparison to the same periods in prior years. My house is all electric and I have storage heating. I suspect my new “smart meter” has not been set up right for storage heating. Where can I go from here? How can I get OVO to actually look into this and check my meter configuration etc and fix whatever the problem is. I’m absolutely  disgusted with the so called customer service line and this is causing a lot of stress and worry. My dec to Jan bill is £325 compared to this period prior years only £60-£70. I hand only 3 heaters on (same every winter) 2 large storage and one small dimplex. I need help please 🙏 

Can you tell us what your usage has been for the Dec - Jan period just gone and the same period 12 months ago, but in kWh rather than £. Were your previous bills estimates or actual readings ?

That sounds very disturbing. If you’re prepared to give us some details of your set-up, we can try and spot anything untoward. This is the catalogue of what we’d like to see:

1. A screenshot of your Plan page (just the bit of it between ⚡Electricity and All prices exclude VAT ...). 
2. A screenshot of a recent Day tab of your Usage pages so we can see when your heating equipment is running. This is what mine looks like:
     

   

3. Some photos, clear enough for any markings or lettering to be legible:
   1. A close-up of the meter itself, Please touch a button before taking the picture to light up the display, and make a note of the exact time. If you could take one a few minutes before 07:00, that would be very helpful.
   2. An overview of the meter cupboard or box, or of the backboard it’s mounted on. We really need to see all the cables, ideally from the service head (often an unsightly black or grey contraption at the end of the thick cable coming from outside, with a couple of neater black, red, blue, brown or grey cables coming out of it) to the meter itself and from the meter to wherever they lead to. If any of the cables are in deep shadow, please move a bit and take another so what was in shadow becomes visible.
      If the ‘meter exchange label’ left by the meter engineer is still there, perhaps fixed to the backboard or a nearby wall, please make sure it’s also in a photo. 
   3. Close-ups of any other control equipment, e.g. for an immersion heater for hot water.
   4. Close-ups of the Consumer Unit(s) (‘fuse boxes’) with the lid propped open so any labels left by the electrician are clearly visible.   

That should do for now 🙂 If it’s all a bit daunting, do you perhaps have a friendly teenager handy who could help? (Good luck with the ‘before 07:00’ bit, in that case!).

Do you have a functioning In-Home Display (IHD) that replicates some of what the meter is doing from time to time? That may be useful for finding out precisely when your storage heaters are charging up, among many other things.

Hi I have a spreadsheet (attached) which i have just updated for the past couple months.  Apparently I’ve used 5682.39 units from 08/05/25 to 31/01/26 (smart meter in 08/05) compared to 4956.70 units used from 04/03/22 to 07/05/25!!! so 725.69 units more in less than a year versus over 3 years before smart meter.

Its true i did not do actual readings every month but the spreadsheet is all actual readings over the past 3 years and if it was so far out there would have been a huge catch up in eg March & May 2025 on the actual reads before the smart meter went in.

I attach s/sheet & usage plan for yesterday as requested and will upload photos of meter tonight as requested.  Thankyou so much for looking at this for me 😊

Can anyone tell me why I have gone from £20 electricity per week to £100 per week 2 pensioners and a cat in a 2 bed house usage is the same cook once a day laundry once/twice a week dont put the heating on as too scared,my smart meter is eating my pension help

Hey ​@thefugies,

Welcome to the community,

We’re here to help, but unfortunately, we don’t have access to individual accounts since we’re a public forum. A great first step is to check your online account to see if your usage has gone up, which might explain those higher bills. Have you also checked when your account last received a meter reading? That information should be available online if you can access it. If you don’t have online access, feel free to give our Support Team a call! They’ll be more than happy to review your account and help figure out if there’s been an increase and what might be causing it. 

It might be a great idea to chat with our Support Team about any extra support you could be eligible for. They can also help make sure you're signed up for the Priority Services Register and that everything is up to date. I’ve included some helpful articles below that you might find useful: